The Spirit did "addition by subtraction" and didn't have to "sell the farm." They also moved the "enigmatic" John McFarland and Jamie Oleksiak, who has "arguably been more about potential than performance" Neate Sager writes.

Williamson says Paliafito didn't shop the Niagara offer for Oleksiak around the league: “A lot of credit goes to Saginaw GM Jim
Paliafito for sticking with me and not shopping my offer. He was liking some of the
pieces he was getting, so I didn’t have to pay, what I think, was a huge
overpayment. I think I paid a fair price, yet I thought it was going to
be a lot worse at some points.”

He also gives a preview of the task the Spirit have in luring Cristoval Nieves into a Saginaw uniform: “Cristoval is going to be a tough one. He’s stuck to his guns, but who knows if something could change down the road. I think they have a better chance of getting him. We did our homework and tried desperately to get Cristoval to come here, but it was 100 per cent ‘no’, so if there’s no way we were going to get him then there’s no value there. If there’s more value to Saginaw then god bless them and they can have him.”

In the span of eight days, starting Friday after World Juniors and ending this Saturday, here's Jamie Oleksiak's travel schedule, from the St. Catherine's Standard: Calgary-Saginaw-Boston-Saginaw-Niagara-Sudbury-Barrie.

After finishing up World Juniors, Oleksiak came back to Saginaw for two games. After being given some time off by the team, he went to Boston, where he learned he was traded to Niagara. He planned to come to Saginaw, grab his stuff, play a Thursday game in Niagara then take the team's road trip.

Oleksiak called it "enough travel for a lifetime." He found enough time to get on Twitter, though, and thank Saginaw for "a great year."

Grant Webermin had quite a day, too. Via the Windsor Star, Webermin was told at 11:40 a.m. that a deal had been proposed to send him to Saginaw. That gave him all of 20 minutes to decide whether or not to waive his no trade clause.

“It wasn’t something I asked for or was planning on," Webermin told the paper. "But it was a decision that, for my career, I needed to do.”